The Window
by N. Watanabe
Summary: Do we need other people to understand ourselves? Tomoyo is stuck pondering this essay prompt and Eriol must come to the rescue. Oh, the drama. One shot.


A/N: This is my first fanfic that I've written in literally years. I was just really bored yesterday and wrote this in a few hours.

This is dedicated to all of the Tomoyo and Eriol fans out, hopelessly supporting my favorite couple in the world. This is also for my boyfriend, whose birthday is today. :D

And now, without further ado…

**The Window**

by N. Watanabe

8/30/06

Daidouji Tomoyo stared out of the window, sighed and looked down at her blanket sheet of paper. She blew a strand of her black-bordering on grey hair and sighed again. An hour had passed and absolutely nothing came to her mind. She was doomed to fail her writing class. Doomed, I tell you. Doomed. It wasn't even a school class—it was an extracurricular class that she begged her mother to let her take. English writing—room 207. 8am-12pm on Saturdays. _"Improve your writing grade by 100 or your money back!"_ the ad in the newspaper shouted to her. At the current moment, Tomoyo was thinking about all of the things that she could buy with that ¥50,000 back. She would never get into university—Todai was out of the question. She would live her life leeching off her mother—the slacker daughter who never went to university and lived on her mother's success. Daidouji Tomoyo. That was her. Oh God.

Tomoyo shivered at the thought.

Again she felt her eyes wandering back to the window. It was a simple window, made of glass and had no screen behind it. Not doubt it was the least expensive window in the mansion—but regardless, it held its own in beauty.

Tomoyo quickly hopped out of her chair (any excuse to get away from her blank essay was a good excuse) and walked over to the window. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was probably the cleanest window in the whole home as well. "Dang," she thought out loud, "Those maids sure do their job well."

After about a minute of staring out into her large front lawn, she shook her head quickly and remembered her task. "Argh! Stupid essays!"

Plopping herself back onto her chair, she reread the essay prompt for the fiftieth time. _"As human beings, do we need other people to understand ourselves? State your opinion and use examples to back up your opinion."_

"GAH!" Tomoyo yelled, nearly scaring her essay prompt into jumping right off the desk. "Why? Why do you care if we need other people to understand ourselves? Does it matter?"

She slumped back into her seat, her knee-length white skirt fluttering nicely as she did so.

"I can't stand this anymore. I'm going to call Eriol."

---

Why, you may ask yourself, did Tomoyo decide to call Eriol and not Sakura? Well, the answer is simple. It was a hot Sunday in summer and Sakura and Syaoran were on their weekly date. She knew not to disturb the young couple…especially since that date a month ago when she called Sakura's cell phone and uhm…well…kissing noises and weird pauses…well, I won't go into detail, but let me just say, Tomoyo never called again on a Sunday… ever again.

So while Sakura was out with her Little Wolf, Tomoyo enjoyed the company of a certain dashing young genteleman named Hiiragizawa Eriol. During the School year, they had often paired up for projects and somehow _magically_ managed to sit by each other during well, every class that they had. Now that summer had begun, they took turns visiting each others' houses. They enjoyed swimming, golfing, having tea parties, and you know, the kind of stuff rich people can afford but we normal people can't. Along with those high-brow activities, they enjoyed spending days at the mall together—Eriol playing the party of the bag-carrying boyfriend and Tomoyo playing the part of the credit card-happy girlfriend (and very well, I might add). Occasionally, they enjoyed visiting the mall's arcade. DDR and Time Crisis were always musts. Eriol was extremely surprised to find how interested Tomoyo had become in the shoot-'em-up games. Over the years, she had lost her shyness and quiet voice. Though she still had the poise and dignity of the ten-year old camera girl of the past, she was quite outspoken and able to take care of herself, thank you very much. She had changed in almost every aspect of her life.

Eriol loved it.

Well, not really _it_, per se, but more of _her_. Ever since Tomoyo was able to pry herself off Sakura, she had become increasingly independent and strong-willed. With every day that passed by, he found himself more and more in love with her. She was confident, sexy and easy to talk to. Not to mention she was intelligent and could hold her own in their debates and arguments. He loved her, God he loved her. But he was too worried to lose the best-friend relationship with her that they had both worked on for so long. He was the closest person in her life and he would have much rather had that than nothing.

Every morning when he woke up, he would say to himself, _"I'll tell her today,"_ but he always went to bed with the guilt of knowing that he had lost his chance.

One day he woke up and felt like he was really going to do it. He would tell her that he loved her—definitely! Today! Not tomorrow but today! Not yesterday but today! Not—

The phone rang and interrupted his thoughts.

---

"Hello? This is the Hiiragizawa residence."

"E? Is that you?"

"No, Tomoyo, it's not. How many Hiiragizawas live in my house?"

"Why can't you just answer the question, then?"

"Who else would it be?"

"I dunno. You could be like… Suppi or someone."

"Suppi? He doesn't answer the phone let alone get off his darn couch."

"Well, I don't know. Why do you say 'Hiiragizawa residence' if you're the only one with that name living in your house? Why not, 'Eriol speaking' or something like that? Then I wouldn't have to make sure that it was you all of the time."

"But that's not traditional. This is Japan. That's just how it's done."

"Tradition stinks. It's no good if I can't tell who I'm talking to and have to guess."

Eriol laughed. He could hear her smiling behind her mock-flustered tone. It, in turn, made him grin.

"So what'd you call me for? Did your toilet overflow again?"

"What? I can't call my best guy friend in the whole wide world to hear his lovely voice?"

"You're funny."

"Maybe I don't want to interrupt another Sakura-Syaoran makeout session."

"Don't remind me, Tomoyo."

"That toilet thing wasn't even my fault. How was I to know that the toilet no longer accommodates fish funerals?"

"Yeah, yeah. What's up?"

"I need you to come over ASAP."

Eriol's voice grew serious. "ASAP? What's wrong?"

"Oh. Not much. Except for the fact that I'LL NEVER GET INTO UNIVERSITY and MY MOM WILL BE FORCED TO KICK ME OF THE HOUSE SO THAT I WON'T BECOME HER LAZY BUM DAUGHTER!"

"—wait… what?"

"Yup. It's awful. I'm not getting into university."

"That's not true. Why do you say that, Tomoyo?"

"My essay. I have no idea what to write for my essay."

"You're such a drama queen, Tomoyo-chan."

"Isn't it wonderful?"

"It is wonderful. I'll be right over."

"You're Heaven-sent, E-kun."

"I know, I know."

---

Eriol's heart beat went from the normal seventy BPM or whatever it was for seventeen-year olds of his age to about three times that in less than five seconds. A chance to visit her? A chance to confess? He wouldn't blow it this time.

He walked to his mirror and smoothed out his clothes. He pushed back his hair and began to walk to his car. The five minute drive felt like mere seconds.

Before long, he was at her door.

---

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Daidouji," Eriol said, bowing his deepest.

"Hello, Eriol-chan," she smiled, calling him that playfully and patting his head. She knew about his feelings for her beautiful daughter—a mother's instinct—and wondered how long it would be before wedding bells rang.

"How are you today?"

"I'm doing well. The lady you're looking for Is upstairs in her room."

"Thank you. Do you want me to do anything for you before I go?"

"Let me think…no. It's fine. God entertain my daughter, please. She's yelling about becoming the rotten egg of the family or something or other. I think that she's bored."

Eriol laughed and nodded, "I'll see what I can do."

---

He heard the irritated yelps coming from Tomoyo's room as he reached the hallway. He hurried his pace as he reached closer.

He opened the door.

Tomoyo immediately looked up. "ERIOL-KUN! Finally! You're here!"

She jumped up and hugged him. He observed the dozens of crumpled-up paper surrounding her desk.

"Hello, m'dear. Wow. Don't you have a trash can?"

Tomoyo looked around her room. "Yeah, but it got full sooo…yeah."

"I see. Uhm. So what's the problem?"

Tomoyo grabbed his hand and Eriol felt his heart skip a beat. She led him to her desk.

"Over here. My essay…" They stared down at the blank piece of paper.

"What essay?" Eriol asked puzzled.

"That's the problem. I can't figure out what to write about."

"What's the prompt?"

Tomoyo handed him a typed piece of paper.

Eriol studied it for a moment. "Do we need others to understand ourselves?"

"I don't know! I've been pondering that for the past three hours!" Tomoyo shouted exasperated.

"Okay," Eriol said calmly. "Just say what you really think—don't think about any essays or anything. Just your honest beliefs."

"…yes? Maybe? I dunno. Tell me what you think, Eriol-kun."

"It's your essay."

"I know but…I need help…this is the first essay so far that has stumped me!"

"I think that we do."

"Why?"

"Well, as human beings, we're insecure and we need others to encourage us and tel us who we are."

"Examples?"

"The media tells us how to dress, think, act and what to eat and where to eat."

"I need another example."

Eriol narrowed his eyes at Tomoyo. "Hey you! I'm not feeding you your essay!"

Tomoyo grinned and backed slowly away from him. She knew what those narrow eyes meant.

Before she could shriek…

"TICKLE TORTURE!" Eriol yelled as he chased her around her room, ultimately cornering her on her bed. He tickled her as she shrieked and laughed.

"Mercy! Mercy, please! I give up! I can't breathe!"

Eriol laughed and stopped. He sat up on the bed and let Tomoyo catch her breath.

"Thank…God…" she said between pants.

As soon as they were both breathing normally, the two sat up.

"I think that you should think of the second example," Eriol said quietly.

Tomoyo nodded and turned to face him. As his enchanting eyes as blue as the sea met her lavender eyes, her heart stopped.

"How about…love? Sometimes we love someone but don't quite understand ourselves until we know that that person loves us back."

Gravity seemed to pull the two together—closer and closer until…

A knock on the door.

The two jumped apart.

"Miss? Miss? I have tea and cake in the kitchen if you and Mr. Hiiragizawa would like some."

Tomoyo sighed. "Coming!" she shot a sympathetic glance to Eriol as she walked out of the door.

Eriol, alone in the room, sighed and snapped his fingers. His eyes wandered around the room until he found a small window on the other side of the room. It was undeniably clean.

---

The rest of the afternoon was spent writing the essay and without anymore excuses to touch…except for the time when the two both reached for the pencil at the same time. Other than that, nothing much to write about.

"Wow. It's late," Eriol observed, realizing that he would have to go home soon.

"Yeah. It is."

"As usual, it's been a pleasure, Miss Daidouji," Eriol said, bowing deeply to the enchanting young lady.

"No, no. The pleasure was all mine," Tomoyo curtsied.

"I must be getting home soon. Nakuru will worry."

"She has a good reason to, too. You might be out there…being the rebel that you are…destroying things and being destructive."

"Oh yes, that would be awful."

The two grinned at each other.

"I'll call you later tonight," Eriol said, moving closer for a hug.

"You promise?" Tomoyo said, falling into his warmth.

"I promise," he said, absorbing every inch of the sweet scent of her hair.

---

After Tomoyo said her final goodbyes to Eriol, she went back into her room and slowly closed the door. The room was definitely missing Eriol's presence. She slumped into her chair and stared at her nearly finished essay. She still had to write her conclusion. But what to end it with?

She looked up from her paper and stared out into the room once more. She moved forward slightly in her seat. Something caught her eye. She turned toward the small window that had attracted her attention hours before. It was… dirty? Tomoyo got up to closer examine it.

It looked like simple fingerprints from her desk, but closer up, Tomoyo realized that someone had used their fingers to write something.

A simple, three-word sentence.

_**"I love you."**_

Tomoyo smiled and her heart fluttered. She returned to her chair, inspired, and wrote the rest of her essay.

_The End_

**_A/N_**: YAY! I hope that you enjoyed that one-shot that I wrote yesterday and I hope that you comment as well. I'm going back to school tomorrow, so this was my final thought of the summer. Take care of yourselves, be safe, and enjoy the rest of your vacation.

-N. Watanabe


End file.
